Three Palestinians, including a 17-year-old boy, were killed early Monday in an Israeli military strike near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, Palestinian medical officials said. The Associated Press quoted Israeli military as saying that it fired heavy guns at three Palestinian fighters in the area after they launched two homemade rockets that hit the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad group, Abu Ahmed, confirmed the group fired rockets at the town. A relative of the dead men, Mohammed Kasarna, said a group of Palestinian fighters had set up a rocket launcher near an agricultural college east of Beit Hanoun, but area residents told them to leave. As the fighters were leaving, a tank shell hit the area, wounding the teenager, who later died, Kasarna said. Two clansmen who went to his aid were killed when another tank shell struck, he said. Medical officials said the two were aged 55 and 65. Three other people were wounded in the attack, they said.
